3885 sq km of Colorado officially independent from the US for three days every year?

[Little_Nemo]

46. There is a 1,500-sq.-mi. section of northern Colorado, west of Denver, not owned by the U.S. three days a year. According to the records of the General Land Office, this territory “was acquired neither through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Texas annexation of 1845, nor by treaties with the Utes who apparently never claimed it.” This un-American region–its residents possibly not U.S. citizens–included the town of Breckenridge. To check this further, in 1977 the Almanac editors called the Colorado Bureau of Land Management, who admitted the questionable area “was blank” on their maps, showing no admission date to the U.S. According to the Colorado Historical Society, a strip of land 90 mi. long and 30 mi. wide in the Breckenridge area had been a no-man’s-land due to an early surveyor’s error, but was offically made part of the U.S. on Aug. 8, 1936, with a special proviso that the area retain “the right to be a free and independent kingdom three days each year.” Since then, a “No Man’s Land” festival has been held annually in August. However, part of the region may still not be U.S. territory. If any readers have further information, let us know.

A good urban legend should at least sound credible and this one doesn’t make that cut.

The claim that a section of a map was somehow left blank and that this led to it not being a part of the United States is extemely unlikely. Treaty borders are usually defined as broadly as possible so it’s a lot more likely that an area would lie within overlapping claims rather than lie outside all claims.

But this is just the improbable part. The unbelievable part is the claim that a 1936 law resolved this problem by establishing sovereignty over the area - but only for 363 days each year. The government would have simply said the land was part of the United States and the State of Colorado - period. Why would Congress and President Roosevelt specifically declare that this land was independent for three days each year?

[billfish678]

@Little_Nemo

Why would Congress and President Roosevelt specifically declare that this land was independent for three days each year?

The Illuminati needed a safe place for their annual convention ?

[Category5]

So what happens when a new island is formed off the coast of Florida? Could I just go claim it?

[Bartman]

@Category5

So what happens when a new island is formed off the coast of Florida? Could I just go claim it?

Only if it fell outside the US territorial sea (up to 200 miles from shore IIRC, or where demarcated by agreement). Inside of that it would naturally devolve to the US.

[Lok]

@billfish678

I meet a guy once who found a tiny sliver of unclaimed land that existed in Denver? Colorado.

I think it had never been claimed because of survey errors that created a tiny no mans land.

He made a claim for it though some legal process and got it. Built a house on it too.

At least thats how I recall the story.

A few years ago the town I live in was attempting to get Honda to build a new plant here. (They chose a place in Indiana instead.) Part of the requirements by Honda was a railroad spur to the area the plant was in. As part of the process of establishing right of ways and such for spur, the city discovered that there 1/2 acre of land in the middle of town that nobody owned. Ever. In over 150 years, no one had noticed. They stuck it onto the railroad right of way because there was no other access to it.

[ianzin]

@silenus

The “People’s Almanac” was compiled by people who spent a great deal of their day smoking their running socks.

Just dropping by to say that’s my favourite put down of the day. Kudos!

[glowacks]

I encountered this story, with the same detail of “3 days a year its own independent kingdom”, many many years ago on the reading section of a standardized test. I thought it quite far-fetched, and while I didn’t go looking particularly hard, I never saw any mention of it by anyone else until today. I imagine that its independence is approximately as recognized as Emperor Norton’s title.

[user_hostile]

I was studying surveying for a few months and read a passage where a particular area in Louisiana did not show up on any of the official parish plats. As a result, the owners never paid any property taxes, while still obtaining government services. Sounded plausible to me.